Conn's, Inc. Announces Partnership with Progressive Leasing

Progressive’s Virtual Lease-To-Own Program to be Made Available in
All Conn’s Stores

Conn’s Review of Lease-To-Own Strategy Started in 2016

April 03, 2017 07:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

THE WOODLANDS, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Conn's, Inc. (NASDAQ:CONN), a specialty retailer of furniture and
mattresses, home appliances, consumer electronics and home office
products, and provider of consumer credit, today announced that it has
formed a partnership with Progressive Leasing, a subsidiary of Aaron’s,
Inc. (NYSE: AAN), to provide lease-to-own payment solutions to customers
who do not qualify for Conn’s proprietary credit offering.

Conn’s has entered into an exclusive three-year agreement with
Progressive Leasing to offer its customers Progressive’s lease-to-own
program.

In the summer of 2016, Conn’s began reviewing its third-party
lease-to-own strategy to improve sales through this offering. In January
2017, Conn’s notified Acceptance Now that it would not renew its
one-year exclusive relationship, giving Conn’s the flexibility to offer
and test alternative lease-to-own options. In February 2017, Conn’s
notified Acceptance Now that it was terminating the offering of the
Acceptance Now option in certain Conn’s locations to allow Conn’s to
test and integrate Progressive’s offering.

“Progressive Leasing is excited to partner with Conn’s to provide
lease-to-own solutions for Conn’s customers,” said Ryan Woodley, Chief
Executive Officer of Progressive. “For 17 years, Progressive has helped
thousands of retail stores and merchants drive incremental sales by
serving more customers. Our industry-leading virtual lease-to-own
program offers an exceptional value and experience for customers. We
have invested heavily in innovation to make this process as easy and
transparent as possible for our customers. We look forward to partnering
with Conn’s and helping the company execute its lease-to-own strategy.”

“We expect to have the Progressive Leasing program available in certain
stores starting in May with a full rollout in early June 2017,” said
Norm Miller, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Conn’s. “After an
extensive review of our lease-to-own options, we decided Progressive’s
growth-oriented culture, advanced decisioning capabilities and robust
balance sheet provides Conn’s with a strong and committed partner.
Conn’s in-house credit segment declined approximately 41% of the more
than 1.3 million applicants for credit we received this past year, but
has historically had a limited conversion to lease-to-own sales. We
believe there is a significant opportunity to grow our lease-to-own
sales and look forward to partnering with Progressive to help us achieve
this goal.”

Additionally, Conn's offers a variety of products on a seasonal basis.
Unlike many of its competitors, Conn's provides flexible in-house credit
options for its customers in addition to third-party financing programs
and third-party lease-to-own payment plans.